Inspiring and Influencing

Category: technology

I woke up today to the sad new that Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs had died. What can one say about this creative genius that has not been said already with the multitudes of tributes all over the Internet?

Remembering hat you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart – Steve Jobs’s Stanford commencement speech 2005

He was a great visionary who’s products changed the face of technology. He leaves a lasting legacy.

The one word that has been coming to my mind all day is IMPACT. We should all strive to make positive impacts on the world that leave us lingering in people’s memories.

In September 2008 when I moved out of the university halls, I moved into a house with initially one girl (who later moved abroad) and 2 guys. After the other girl moved out a guy moved in, I was now living with three guys, this presented some problems and awkwardness. In the lounge there was this funny little 13 or 14 inch TV. Being the only girl and as is the case in a houseshare, a lot of times I didn’t get to watch what I wanted, because we had different interests.

I had to figure out a way to watch my shows, without waiting all week for the weekend omnibus. I started using the BBC’s iPlayer and ITV and Channel 4’s catch up services very often. I used this to keep up with TV shows, meaning I didn’t have to worry about missing the plot of shows I follow. The shows were available only after being broadcast on TV and accessible for a certain number of days.

Last night I was watching Peschardt’s Business People on the BBC where the business person being interviewed was Akash Aurora. He is an Indian business man was one of the first to set up a huge IT and outsourcing operation in Dubai. He is master-minding a revolution in the way sport is likely to be watched around the world (via BBC). The project being discussed was the video streaming of the Indian Premier League 20-20, where the matches can be watched live via computers and mobile devices.

It is a completely free service (internet connection required) and would allow viewers to have 16 screens up, hence getting a view from several angles of the pitch. Very much like Personal Video Recorder (PVR) decoders, a viewer can have instant rewind for reviews and pause playback; total control. Michael Peschardt asked him if this would replace or compete with viewing the match on TV. In his (Akash’s) opinion it would not be a substitute to TV, as viewers may use this to catch up with a game while away from home or view missed games.

I don’t watch much sport and the prevailing game around me has always been football apart except the Olympics and sometimes Tennis. Usually particular networks get broadcasting rights for certain football league seasons and games are often not broadcast on free to air TV.

Imagine if all games were available this way; online and free, would viewers choose this over TV? Probably, seeing as there are several ways to hook up TV sets to the internet or one could just choose to invest in a great monitor and dump the TV.